The New York Times Co. will get an answer to its $10 million question today as members of the biggest union at its Boston Globe vote today on a new contract and cap a months-long battle that could have shut down the 157-year-old paper.

The Boston Newspaper Guild’s nearly 700 editorial, advertising and back-office members are voting on a series of concessions that include wage cuts totaling around 9 percent, hikes in health-care costs, a freeze on pensions and the elimination of company payments to 401(k)s.

In addition, 170 old timers will lose their lifetime-job guarantees.

If approved, the union members — who are the lone holdouts among several labor groups to have negotiated new contracts with the paper — would restore a sizable chunk of their pay, which was slashed by 23 percent when the Times imposed a severe wage cut following the union’s rejection of a contract described as strikingly similar to the one being voted on today.

Early indications are the vote may be yet another close one, with members on both sides putting on a full-court press in the days leading to today’s vote to rally the troops.

Guild President Daniel Totten is quoted as saying the results are “hard to gauge.”

When Guild members voted in June on an earlier contract, it was rejected by just 12 votes, which then triggered the Times to impose the double-digit pay cut.

If the proposal currently on the table gets ratified, it’s expected to save the Globe some $10 million, though that may not be enough to offset what is estimated to be an $85 million loss this year.

The Times bought the Globe in 1993 for more than $1 billion, but has paid an even steeper price ever since as a slowdown in advertising revenue and the recession have slammed both the paper and the parent company.

The Times is now trying to sell the paper as it seeks to raise cash to help whittle down a billion-dollar debt load.